HCA: Hermit Crab Association

I saw some behavior a few weeks ago that closely resembled guarding. Picked up the suspicious female today and found eggs.


I’m doing a mad crab fact cram to determine how to best raise the zoea. Any advice?

Congrats!! That’s so awesome!
I don’t have ant experience with raising zoea, but several people here do.
@GotButterflies


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A few questions:

1) It seems that a lot of problems stem from excess ammonia (too much food and poop). Would adding additional Prime to the water after water changes be beneficial?

2) Would a 50% water change twice a day be sufficient? I’m planning on mason jars in a fifteen gallon aquarium.

3) Would reef crystals be better than normal salt? I’m wondering if the additional calcium and other minerals would be helpful.

4) Should I cover the tank with a screen lid, a plexiglass lid, or leave it uncovered?

5) I’m planning on feeding them phytoplankton, brine shrimp eggs, and spirulina flakes. Any suggestions for a feeding schedule?

6) Does anyone know if UVB would be helpful? Otherwise I’m just using a regular fluorescent.

7) Should I give them regular day/night cycles or just leave the light on 24/7?

How easy is it to differentiate live zoea from corpses and shed exoskeletons?

If anyone’s interested, here are pics of the parents!



The first one is the mother, Elizabeth. I had to use caution photographing her eggs because she likes to pinch when she’s scared. Having eggs to protect didn’t change that.



The second one is the father, Pete (he’s also my profile image). He was bright orange when I got him, but he’s darkened over time.

Both crabs have lived with me for eight years now without any major events, so this all has completely caught me by surprise.

Congrats!!!

There is a pretty good chance they did this before and you never noticed. I have females in berry every summer but 9 times out of 10 they smear the eggs on surfaces rather than use the water. The other crabs love the taste.

She is really early on, within the first week if not within a few days. You'll have three, maybe four weeks until they are ready.

I never even got off the ground with trying, as my gals always either smeared on land, launched prematurely, or the zoea were just never viable. I would definitely recommend reading through Nat_Addicted's topic as she has done Aussies several times successfully, and especially Curlz, as she has done PPs once and Violas a couple of times.

I can give my take on a few of these.

1 & 2) Everyone suggested to keep my chemical usage low, so I just tried to use a few drops per jar. However, I did experiment with a few additional drops of ammo lock a couple times and it didn’t seem to have any negative effects. 50% water changes twice a day was sufficient, but I’d suggest completely changing the jars out every few days (probably where I messed up).

4) I used a covered aquarium lid, seemed to help with keeping heat in and held the light bulb.

5) I’d get a jar of frozen baby brine as a backup in case the brine shrimp fail to hatch sometimes.

7) 24/7 lighting worked for me. When I turned the light off they just sunk to the bottom.

Easier after few days in when they turn orange. Dead ones turn totally white.

Congrats!

I used reef crystals.

I did use a UVB.

I fed brine shrimp eggs, chlorella, spirulina, and hikari first bites (when they got near the end).

Thanks for the advice, everyone. Wode’s right, the eggs may not hatch, but I’ll try to get everything together in the next couple of weeks anyways, just in case.

How big is your tank, Joe? I found some resources for egg-raising.
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 7&t=116795
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 67&t=91033
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 67&t=94905
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 67&t=87620
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 67&t=88646
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 67&t=94071

AwesomeHermit wrote:How big is your tank, Joe? I found some resources for egg-raising.
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 7&t=116795
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 67&t=91033
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 67&t=94905
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 67&t=87620
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 67&t=88646
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 67&t=94071

Thanks, I’ve already looked through some of these, but I’ve got a few weeks before the eggs are ready, so I’ll be reading and preparing until then.

JoeHermits wrote:

AwesomeHermit wrote:How big is your tank, Joe? I found some resources for egg-raising.
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 7&t=116795
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 67&t=91033
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 67&t=94905
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 67&t=87620
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 67&t=88646
http://www.hermitcrabassociation.com/ph ... 67&t=94071

Thanks, I’ve already looked through some of these, but I’ve got a few weeks before the eggs are ready, so I’ll be reading and preparing until then.

Oh, and to answer your question, I have a 55 gal, though with the hood it may be closer to 75.

For the zoea I have a fifteen gal with a bunch of mason jars.

I just wanted to say congrats and good luck! I'm looking forward to seeing your updates!

Are the zoea both able and willing to eat brine shrimp eggs if they don’t hatch?

I imagine that the eggs probably have some good nutrition in them (the nutrients in the baby shrimp have to come from somewhere). I just want to know how successful people have been with the eggs or if I should get my hands on some frozen BBS as well.

From my understanding, the egg shell is so tough that it's hard for anything to eat or digest.

I found decapsulated eggs in a jar, in case I needed to feed them before I got the brine shrimp started.

Are your decapsulated eggs non-hatching like these?

https://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/decap ... -25-ounces

I’m still researching zoea food.